Lavender Haze - Blueberry Lavender Margarita

How to Make a Blueberry Lavender Margarita?

To make a Blueberry Lavender Margarita, start by muddling the blueberries on the bottom of your shaking tin. I always muddle first so that the next ingredients can start infusing the fresh yummy blueberry flavor into them immediately.

Next, we add the lavender flavor by way of our Lavender Fields Bitters. Bitters have highly concentrated flavor and ours are made with the highest quality dried herbs, so just a couple of droppers is all you need to add a robust lavender flavor and aroma to your cocktail.

The rest of the cocktail is built like a regular margarita. A standard Margarita is made with just three ingredients: tequila for the spirit, lime for the citrus, and orange liqueur (triple sec) for the sweetener. Add these classic ingredients as well as ice to the tin. Shake it and double strain into a rocks glass with ice.

NOTES ON STRAINING:

Most shaken cocktails are strained with a hawthorn strainer which has a spring attached to the back of it to keep ice from pouring through. The problem with the spring is that it is a pain to clean when muddled fruit gets stuck in it so we don't recommend using a hawthorn strainer in this case.

We prefer to use a combination of a julep strainer and a fine mesh strainer for cocktails with muddled fruit. The julep strainer holds back most of the solids in the tin while the small bits that pass through are all caught by the fine mesh strainer which is easy to knock out into the trash. This way you can have your cocktail with less frustrating cleanup.

Tip! While most margaritas have salt on at least half of the rim, we don't recommend a salt rim for this margarita. The aromatic lavender and sweet berries provide a lovely complexity to the cocktail that an intense flavor like salt could cover up.

What do Lavender Fields Bitters do for a Blueberry Lavender Margarita?

Lavender Fields Bitters add a herbaceous and floral undertone to this margarita, complementing the refreshing blueberries, agave, and lime. With flavor notes of lavender, thyme, tarragon, and vanilla, these bitters add a complex and well rounded bouquet of aromas.

Aroma can be a powerful part of a cocktail. For a Blueberry Lavender Margarita, the lavender aroma enhances the overall sensory experience adding to the margarita's already refreshing quality which makes the Lavender Haze especially enjoyable as a warm weather cocktail.

Some people think lavender has a soapy flavor and tend to avoid it, which has more to do with a quality of lavender used in a syrup, infusion, or bitters. We use the highest quality organic French lavender available in our Lavender Fields Bitters so it adds a true and genuine lavender flavor to the margarita, not an artificial one.

Tip! If you are a lavender lover drop a few drops of Lavender Fields bitters on top of your cocktail to make your Blueberry Lavender Margarita even more aromatic.

Best Tequila for a Blueberry Lavender Margarita

Because margaritas have so few ingredients, which tequila you choose can make a big difference on the flavor. It's best to use a good quality tequila but one of the biggest factors on the flavor of a tequila is how long it was aged in oak.

Tequila comes in three main age styles: blanco/plata (0-2 months), reposado (2-12 months), and añejo (1-3 years). Blanco tequila is more crisp in flavor and is defined by citrus, vegetal, and floral notes. Reposado and anejo tequilas have notes of honey, vanilla, and coffee.

Since the Blueberry Lavender Margarita is a bright, summery, and floral margarita, we recommend using a blanco tequila which will blend naturally with the sweet berries and herbaceous Lavender Fields Bitters. These are some of our favorite tequilas for a Blueberry Lavender Margarita:

Gran Centenario Plata: Rested for 7 weeks in large American Oak casks, this tequila is just kissed with oak flavor and oxidation to make it a particularly smooth tasting blanco tequila. Its flavor profile is fruit forward with an herbaceous and floral nose making it a perfect choice for mixing into a Blueberry Lavender Margarita.

Siete Leguas Blanco: Known for choosing quality over profit, Siete Leguas is a beloved brand that is still family owned and has been producing tequila for almost 90 years. They grow their own blue agave and still produce their tequila with traditional methods. Their blanco tequila is citrusy and herbaceous with a pleasant minerality. It incorporates seamlessly into a Blueberry Lavender Margarita when a higher shelf tequila is desired.

Tequila Ocho Plata: One of the most unique tequilas on the market; Tequila Ocho produces single origin bottles from individual farms that they work closely with throughout Jalisco, Mexico. Their goal is to show the difference terroir makes on the flavor of tequila. Their blanco tequila is one of the best examples of farm to glass tequilas and they mix exceptionally well into cocktails. Each bottle has the name of the farm listed on it so if you visit their website you can see information on the exact place that the agave was grown to make your bottle.

If you love tequila and margaritas as much as we do check out some of our other margarita variation recipes to see how you can add some grated ginger and Scorpion Bitters for a spicy and warming variation or use some strawberry infused tequila in your margarita and top it with champagne for a bright and effervescent summertime sipper.

Blueberry Lavender Margarita Ingredients

We suggest you use organic ingredients whenever possible. Here's what you'll need to make this Blueberry Lavender Margarita recipe:

• Blanco Tequila -

  One of the defining features of a margarita is that it is made with an agave spirit like tequila or mezcal. We recommend a blanco tequila for a Blueberry Lavender Margarita. Blanco tequilas have bright, herbaceous, and fruity flavor profiles that blend perfectly with the herbal notes of the lavender and the sweetness of the blueberry.

• Fresh Lime Juice -

  Fresh juice is a must for any citrus cocktail and a Blueberry Lavender Margarita is no different. The fresh citrus balances out the sweet blueberries and agave making the cocktail a refreshing, vibrant, and perfectly balanced margarita masterpiece. We try to use a citrus press whenever possible so that the aromatic oils from the peel can incorporate into the fresh juice as well.

• Agave - 

  While a traditional margarita is sweetened just with an orange liqueur like triple sec or Cointreau, we use agave nectar as the main source of sweetness for this Blueberry Lavender Margarita. Agave has a gentle, natural flavor that complements the bright, honeyed notes of tequila without overwhelming them. It also has a more velvety texture and ties the flavors of the tequila and lime together harmoniously.

• Cointreau - 

  Cointreau adds a hint of zesty orange to the Blueberry Lavender Margarita. This helps tie the flavors of blueberry and lavender in with the agave and creates an even more complex and balanced cocktail with a luxurious mouthfeel. There are plenty of other orange liqueurs on the market but Cointreau is our preferred choice for the Lavender Haze.

• Fresh Blueberries -

  Blueberries are in season from April to late September so you should be able to find fresh blueberries all summer long. Fresh blueberries are preferred to a blueberry syrup because the added sugar from the syrup will over-sweeten the drink. A small handful of 8 blueberries, muddled at the begging of your build, is all you need to infuse the Lavender Haze cocktail with plenty of fresh berry flavor but feel free to add more to suit your preferences.

• Lavender Fields Bitters -

  Lavender Fields Bitters deliver the vibes of mid-summer directly to your cocktail. This French style, lavender forward, herbes de Provence blend with notes of thyme, tarragon, and vanilla is the perfect bitter for summer cocktails. The lavender and blueberries make a delicious pairing and the pleasant aroma of lavender engages the sense of smell for a full sensory sipping experience.

Don't know how to measure bitters? Check out our blog on all things bitters here: What Are Bitters?